“It’s clear to us that auto­mated dri­ving will be a key ele­ment in the mobil­ity of the future,” said Dr. Elmar Degen­hart, chair­man of the exec­u­tive board of Con­ti­nen­tal. “As a sys­tem sup­plier, we are per­fectly posi­tioned to develop and launch series pro­duc­tion of solu­tions for par­tially auto­mated sys­tems for our cus­tomers by 2016.

We will be able to develop the first appli­ca­tions for highly and ulti­mately fully auto­mated dri­ving, even at higher speeds and in more com­plex dri­ving sit­u­a­tions, ready for pro­duc­tion by 2020 or 2025.”

Once approved, Con­ti­nen­tal will receive its test­ing license and red license plant with an infin­ity sign – a sym­bol for the car of the future. The plate is eas­ily rec­og­niz­able by law enforce­ment and the pub­lic at large. If autonomous vehi­cles become com­mon in the short-term future, automak­ers and tier-one sup­pli­ers will have to work closely together to develop the new tech­nol­ogy that meets offi­cial and pub­lic expec­ta­tions for safety and reliability.